a blog about life on Skopelos

Last Sunday of Carnival

Many women in Skopelos dressed like men yesterday, when the traditional last Sunday of Carnival was celebrated with a fake wedding and a parade through the town (the groom and many tsoliades/τσολίαδες, people dressed in the traditional fustanella costume, were women). This has been a tradition on Skopelos for many years.

About a hundred people dressed in traditional costumes from Skopelos and Greece started walking from the gym hall up into the town and sang and danced in several squares. In many places townspeople came out of their houses and presented the singers with rice pudding, meat balls, cheese pie, wine and tsipouro. There were rain clouds and sometimes it rained a little bit but the weather stayed fairly well until the whole group arrived at the municipal cafe in the harbour. Here the dancing continued and the group later left to party some more in the Orfeas cinema.

The official headdress of Skopelitan women was done by Katherina Betsanis. She is seen on the photographs shown below. Katherina takes care of all the dresses from the cultural and folklore association and she also makes traditional dresses like the one I (Daphne) am wearing in the last photo. This design originates from Thrace.